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Death of Hawthorne couple being investigated as a double murder

The death of the Hawthorne couple is officially being investigated as a double homicide, said Lt. David Coleman of the Sheriff’s homicide bureau on Saturday.

Leamon Turnage, 69, and his wife, Robyn, 57, were discovered dead inside their home by Hawthorne police officers while they were conducting a welfare check.

The couple, Coleman said, may have been killed during a home invasion and robbery. Family members had attempted to reach the couple by phone for several days but when they could not, they called police, Coleman said.

Details on how the couple were killed have not been released.

Investigators are trying to determine whether the attack was related to a Sept. 24 home-invasion robbery that occurred several blocks away and left a man dead, Coleman said.

According to the Times’ Homicide Report, Hanna Morcos, 80, was found face down in his apartment in the 4100 block of West 137th Street around 8:30 p.m. Ed Winter, spokesman for the coroner’s office, said Morcos had suffered blunt head trauma. Coleman said detectives working on both cases were collaborating.

“The detectives are working together but we don't know if they’re connected,” Coleman said.